Short Summary

A member of Ethiopia's ruling military council has predicted an early victory against Somalia in the Ogaden war.

Description

A member of Ethiopia's ruling military council has predicted an early victory against Somalia in the Ogaden war. Increased Soviet support has swung the fighting in Ethiopia's favour. The prediction was made on Tuesday (7 February) by Captain Fikre Selassie Wogderess, Secretary General of the Provisional Military Administration Council, at a news conference in Addis Ababa.

SYNOPSIS: The news conference was held in the National Assembly Hall in Addis Ababa, at a time when Ethiopian officials were announcing that a "concerted action" had begun against Somali forces in south east Ethiopia.

Captain Fikre Selassie told newsmen that Ethiopian forces would soon be triumphant in their war against Somalia in the Ogaden region. He said the mass of Ethiopians, however, considered the war in Ethiopia's Red Sea province of Eritrea more important then fighting against Somalia. And referring to the whole conflict in the Horn of Africa, he said that the African people had to solve their own problems, in their own way, within the framework of the Organisation of African Unity. Captain Fikre Selassie also warned what he described as "Imperialists and their reactionary accomplices" to refrain from supplying arms to the Mogadishu government.